President Donald Trump said that a United States naval blockade against Iran could last months, leading oil prices to spike to their highest level in more than four years which held into Thursday.
With diplomacy between Iran and the United States at a standstill after false starts, Trump spoke by phone Wednesday with Russian president Vladimir Putin, who warned him of ‘damaging consequences’ if the United States and Israel resume their war on Iran.
Meeting oil executives, Trump contended that the blockade of Iranian ports — which Tehran has demanded must end before any deal — was more effective than bombing.
US Central Command said Wednesday on X that it had reached a ‘significant milestone after successfully redirecting the 42nd commercial vessel attempting to violate the blockade.’
It said there are ‘41 tankers with 69 million barrels of oil that the Iranian regime can’t sell,’ estimating the value to more than $6 billion.
Trump has faced intense political pressure to end the war, which is unpopular even with much of his base, and has increased costs for American consumers paying at the pump and unnerved US allies.
In a Tuesday meeting, Trump discussed his efforts ‘to alleviate global oil markets and steps we could take to continue the current blockade for months if needed and minimise impact on American consumers,’ a White House official said on condition of anonymity.
Trump, speaking to Axios, said of the naval action on Iran, ‘They are choking like a stuffed pig. And it is going to be worse for them.’
Oil prices held around four-year highs with US benchmark Brent for June delivery, hitting a peak of $122.53 a day earlier before sitting around $120 Thursday, International benchmark West Texas Intermediate was meanwhile around $108.
Iran has sought to extract a price for being attacked by exerting control over the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which about one-fifth of global oil typically transits.
The US leader on Wednesday lashed out at German chancellor Friedrich Merz threatening to reduce the number of its troops in Germany over Berlin’s refusal to back the war in Iran or contribute to a peacekeeping force in the Strait of Hormuz.
Merz has become a target of Trump’s ire after saying earlier this week that Iran is ‘humiliating’ Washington at the negotiating table.
Top US officials including vice-president JD Vance twice turned back last week from trips to Pakistan to negotiate with Iran, which has voiced doubts about Trump’s sincerity for diplomacy.
US officials contend they do not know who is speaking for Iran, whether it is the hardline and increasingly empowered Revolutionary Guards or diplomats, after Israeli strikes killed a series of top leaders.
The UN Development Programme warned that the war, which has also seen the price of fertiliser soaring, could plunge more than 30 million people into poverty in 160 countries.
‘It’s development in reverse,’ UNDP chief Alexander De Croo told AFP.
Despite the defiance of the cleric-run state, the Iranian rial fell to historic lows against the dollar.
Tehran residents speaking to AFP journalists in Paris reported a sense of despair.
‘Every time in recent years that negotiations have taken place, the economic situation of the people has only gotten worse. Sanctions have either started or intensified,’ a 52-year-old architect told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
‘The issue is always nuclear. There’s no talk about people, the economy or freedom. People have the right to not even want to hear the word ‘negotiation’,’ he said.
Iran has proposed easing its chokehold over the Strait of Hormuz as Washington lifts its blockade and broader negotiations take place. The Trump administration has been skeptical of the proposal.
Iran’s speaker of parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who has emerged as a key figure since the start of the war, said Wednesday the US naval blockade of the country aimed to create division and ‘make us collapse from within.’
Violence has continued on the war’s Lebanese front, despite a recently extended ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed armed group that drew Lebanon into the war by firing rockets at Israel. Israel responded with strikes and a ground invasion.
For the first time since the ceasefire began, the Lebanese army said on Tuesday that an Israeli strike had targeted its troops, wounding two soldiers in the south. Another strike on Wednesday killed a Lebanese soldier, it said.
‘Israel must finally realise that the only path to security is through negotiations, but it must first fully implement the ceasefire in order to move on to negotiations,’ ‘Israeli attacks cannot continue as they are,’ Lebanese president Joseph Aoun said in a statement.
A UN-backed report said Wednesday that more than 1.2 million people in Lebanon were expected to face acute hunger due to the latest war.
